Bungie’s Destiny has had a history with Artifacts, with Rise of Iron introducing significant items that could speed up Super regeneration and remove sprint cooldown. Artifacts are coming to Destiny 2 as well with Shadowkeep but they’re going to function somewhat differently. Speaking to Polygon, general manager Mark Noseworthy and franchise director Luke Smith talked about the Artifact system in more detail.
Each season will players acquire a new Artifact and leave their old one behind. Smith said, “The Artifact is one part of this philosophy around making sure that in Destiny going forward, our seasonal content feels like it’s got a sense of momentum.” The Eye of the Gatelord was provided as an example, since Shadowkeep will have a raid in the Black Garden, which is Vex territory.
Smith continued, “We kind of have this overall vision for what we’re trying to do with the Destiny RPG game, which is really enable and empower build crafting./ The Artifact is one of the tools that we’re experimenting with, alongside the Armor 2.0 system, which is modding your character and modding — in some cases — your abilities, to become more powerful.” Mods could also be interested into Artifacts, and they’ll have significant impact on abilities. In this way, Bungie will have more varied abilities each Season.
Then again, a mod that’s gone in one season won’t be gone forever, especially if it’s popular with players. The main goal is to push for different builds and theory-crafting among players. If players want a particular mod back, then Bungie will look into it. With more information to come about Shadowkeep, hopefully we’ll have more information on the Artifacts available at launch.
Destiny 2: Shadowkeep is out on September 17th for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
